Program Details: 
Working Toward A Vibrant Civil Society

Since 2003, Mercy Corps has worked to directly engage Iraqis in the rebuilding and renewal of their country, while providing humanitarian and development assistance to over 4 million Iraqi citizens affected by war, violence and displacement.

Mercy Corps’ goal in Iraq is to help Iraqi communities meet their immediate needs, while providing a solid foundation for the development of a secure, productive and just society.

The success of Mercy Corps’ Iraq program, as well as the security of staff and program sites, depends on the acceptance and good will of local communities and leaders. The “Iraqi face” of Mercy Corps’ staff plays a critical role in fostering such acceptance. A continuous effort to create mutual understanding and foster community investment in our work has also been highly successful, enabling programs to keep running even through very turbulent times.

Iraq Community Action Program (CAP)
Since 2003 Mercy Corps has provided development assistance in Iraq through the
USAID-funded Community Action Program (CAP). Mercy Corps has invested heavily in the creation of a vibrant civil society and the expansion of citizen government interaction. For example, we helped establish approximately 370 community action groups in south central Iraq.

These groups identify and prioritize where they want to make investments in social infrastructure, such as rehabilitating schools, constructing clinics and improving community marketplaces. Through CAP, Mercy Corps goes beyond bricks and mortar by including development initiatives that enhance infrastructure work with transformative
community-based activities. These initiatives include but are not limited to the following:

• Empowering persons with disabilities to advocate for their own rights.
• Increasing access to information and communication technology for persons at all levels of society.
• Promoting women to be full partners in development, which includes a women’s education program that provides basic education and rights awareness classes.
• Encouraging creativity and community engagement in youth through activities such as theater productions, art lessons, awareness campaigns and sports.

To date, Mercy Corps has invested nearly $88 million in Iraqi communities. These funds, combined with over $12 million in community contributions, have been used to complete more than 1,500 projects and development activities and create nearly 24,000 short-term jobs through the Community Action Program.

A New Phase for CAP
In October 2008, Mercy Corps began the third phase of our CAP program, which continues our focus on creating an informed and engaged Iraqi citizenry. Under this new phase, we are also working more explicitly to build the capacity of local government to meet the articulated needs of their communities. By bringing together community action groups and local council officials, Mercy Corps is helping local government officials in Basrah, Maysan, Muthanna and Dhi Qar to implement their own development plans and ensure community input into future plans and budget requests. With the help of a partner, Mercy Corps will also provide expert training to local councils on community outreach, project management and oversight, budget preparation and advocacy.

Emergency Response Programs
The Samarra bombing in February 2006 caused massive displacement, both within and outside of Iraq. In response, Mercy Corps increased its emergency humanitarian operations, particularly in Sulaymaniyah, Diyala, Tameem, Salah al Din, Erbil and Dahuk governorates, which have received large numbers of displaced families. Working with local communities and with funding from the U.S. government and the United Nations, Mercy Corps is helping overstretched host communities by increasing the outreach of health services, ensuring a safe supply of water and appropriate sanitation, and providing fuel and essential household items. We’re also helping youth and families deal with the stress of conflict and displacement.

In highly volatile and insecure areas, Mercy Corps operates through a system of dedicated individuals who work undercover in their own communities as they liaise with local government officials, NGOs and community leaders to implement assistance projects. Through this system, Mercy Corps has delivered $55 million in program aid to 2 million people — even during the most turbulent times.

In addition, through a partnership with the World Food Program, the Ministry of Migration and Displacement and local Iraqi organizations, Mercy Corps is providing oil, wheat, vegetable seeds and nuts to over 230,000 internally displaced Iraqis in Sulaymaniyah, Tameem, Wassit, Qadissiyah, Maysan and Basrah. The program aims to alleviate the suffering and financial hardship of displaced families who have lost access to the Public Distribution System after leaving their home governorates.

Building Peace, Managing Conflict
Mercy Corps is committed to encouraging the peaceful resolution of conflict and building tolerance among all ethnic and sectarian groups in Iraq. In Tameem and its provincial capital of Kirkuk with funding from the U.S. State Department’s Iraqi Women’s Democracy Initiative, Mercy Corps is working across ethnic and sectarian divides to help women leaders and women’s organizations act as peace builders in an area fraught with tensions over the future of this contested city. Mercy Corps’ programs have already reached more than 20,000 women indirectly through trainings, capacity building and social network creation.

Under CAP, Mercy Corps also provided negotiation training, conducted by international experts, to over 95 Iraqi leaders from southern Iraq. Participants have gone on to teach conflict management skills to more than 750 Iraqis while also using their expertise to successfully negotiate peaceful settlements to local conflicts, benefiting more than 72,000 Iraqis. Mercy Corps is now expanding this skill training to local leaders across Iraq.

Youth Connectivity
Through an innovative youth Internet exchange program, students in the Middle East are connecting with their American counterparts. Mercy Corps has provided Iraqi youth the opportunity to access new portals of knowledge through technology. This component of Mercy Corps' Global Citizen Corps program is facilitating rich cross-cultural exchanges between youth who have few options for connecting with each other in such immediate, trans-global dialogue. This vibrant communication enables students from vastly different backgrounds to gain insight, IT and communications expertise and unique knowledge of other cultures.